Perception of Learner Autonomy in English Education in Brunei Darussalam

A research from Littlewood tried to investigate six points regarding to LA. Those are the meaning of LA for EFL teacher, how LA contribute the learning, the extent of LA indications, the desirable and feasible degree of the teacher in implementing LA, the extent the real implementation of LA, and the obstacles faced by the teachers.

The finding from the survey indicated they most teachers recognize the advantages of LA. Regarding to the feasibility and desirability, the teacher prefer desirability to feasibility. It is assumed by the low confident of the teacher. Some teachers think that their students are in fair degree and some are not they who do not think so find some problems on the students. First, the need their teacher to confirm that they are on the right track. Then, the lack of comprehension and awareness. The finding from the workshop indicated that the teachers are well motivated yet they think that LA can only be imlemented in a supportive environment. The last is the finding from the group discussion. They argue that it is very necessary to implement LA and recognize more in varying the mthods and techniques in the classroom activities.

A Commonly Found Question

Question	:	Does curriculum inhibit the development of learner autonomy?
Answer	:	It depends on they type of curriculum and how the teacher responds towards the curriculum itself. As long as the curriculum and the teachers still give the students a chance to be able to take charge of their own learning, the curriculum will not inhibit the development of the learner autonomy. For example, in the Indonesian context, in particular part, the curriculum only proposes wat kind of specific text to be taught, such as report text. On the other hand, the teacher usually asks the students to bring something into the classroom this is the example of how the teacher arranges a learning based on the curriculum, promotes and accomodates the learner to be autonomous.

Critical Analysis

            From the summary, it is proved that workshop is really eeded by the teachers to understand the right concept of LA. The use of workshop conducted can be used as the media to share different teachniques, methods, and approach with other teachers. I try co compare and contrast between the worksop based on my experience in Surabaya and Madura. Although they have the same objective, yet the way to deliver the material sometime confuses the teacher. In Surabaya, I was a participant. Since I was a new graduate, I was familiar with the concept of K13. However, the old teachers were very confused because the coach explained it not from the basic. Therefore, the workshop seemed to be useless for them. Also, the good things is that, there was a continuation of the workshop. The teachers were required to directly imlement it in their classes and report it. However, before implementing it, the teacher should really understand what they going to do. Therefore, the students will get the objective ot that day’s lesson.

References

Barnard and Li. 2016. Language Learner Autonomy: Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in Asia Context. Phnom Pehn: Ankor Thom Printer Co. Ltd.

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